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It is now six weeks since Ochilo Ayacko, Kenya’s sports minister, decided enough was enough and suspended the Kenyan Cricket Association as the first step towards introducing a new body to truly and democratically represent the sport in the country.The minister’s actions appear to have been covertly backed by the ICC – he claims that he was "urged to take such independent lawful action as I deemed necessary so as to arrest what the ICC considered an unacceptable and indefensible state of affairs concerning the KCA and Kenya cricket generally." While the ICC officially distances itself from Ayacko’s subsequent forming of an alternative body, Cricket Kenya, it is widely believed that all funding to the KCA has been suspended.That the KCA remains legally in charge is down to the courts, who have proved the biggest crutch to the association in the past and are again doing so. Three ex parte injunctions have been granted to the KCA in the last six weeks, all before the same judge who has, rather surprisingly, not found time to hear legal applications from the minister. The judge’s last ruling was particularly contentious and, as with the other injuctions, is in the process of being challenged.The KCA has formally lost the support of almost all Kenya’s clubs. In special meetings earlier this month, not one club affiliated to the Nairobi and Coast associations backed it, with all but four, which abstained, opting to throw in their lot with Cricket Kenya. The KCA’s own domestic league and cup did not even start in 2004-05 as only a handful of clubs are thought to have entered, and even then some of those entries were subsequently challenged.It’s the same story with the players. The 14 who have been on strike since last October continue to refuse to have any dealings with the KCA, and Cricinfo has learned that others have now joined them, not on strike but in refusing to play under the KCA banner.Even the government has turned on the association, with the cabinet backing the minister’s strategy.Financially, the KCA is a shambles. It has not had a sponsor for almost two years, although there are several said to be waiting on the sidelines and willing to back Cricket Kenya if it gets official ICC recognition. Without ICC monies, the KCA has no income stream and things are growing increasingly desperate. A leading coach was evicted from his flat last week after the KCA failed to pay his rent, and recently a group of disgruntled coaches held senior KCA officials hostage in the association offices until their backpay was handed over.Aside from the strikers, who claim they are owed money from as long as two years ago, other players are also out of pocket and have even been asked to pay their own air fares to get to matches with no hope of reimbursement.Last week, Nairobi Gymkhana, the leading club in the country – and the home to the country’s main ground and also the KCA offices – decided to take the KCA to court over outstanding rent.So why are the KCA executive still fighting? The board has suffered a string of resignations lately, with three after Christmas being followed by that of Ramesh Bhalla last week. Even the KCA’s own selectors failed to name a side for the aborted Intercontinental Cup tie against Namibia after one of them said that, in his view, they no longer had the moral right to do so.The official reason that continues to be used by the board is that they have the legal authority to run the game, as proved by the courts. While legal arguments might keep them in control, their moral authority has surely long since expired.However, there are interesting developments behind the scenes, where some increasingly desperate maneuvering is taking place to try and allow senior officials an honourable exit. The thinking seems to be that longer they can hold on, the greater the desire to make concessions to remove them will become.The net is, however, closing. The ICC has raised "deep concerns as to the management and governance of Kenyan cricket" and the minister has gone some way beyond that, claiming that he stepped in to end a cycle of "internal wrangles, corruption and misappropriation of funds." On Friday, the police seized bank records of the KCA as part of ongoing investigations.Comments attributed to the ICC last week that it would take until June 2006 for a new body – ie Cricket Kenya – to be recognised were seized on by supporters of the KCA. But look at the ICC’s position. It cannot back this new body until it is entirely certain that the old KCA is finished. To do so would leave it in an embarrassing situation were the KCA to survive – and despite it being backed into a corner, stranger things have happened in Kenya. And so the ICC has no choice but to sit on the sidelines. It seems unlikely , however, that it will continue to back a body which is unrepresentative, has little support, is broke, and continues to operate under such a cloud.There are potential openings which would enable the ICC to act. One is that the constitutional review which is due any day now will not be delivered. The ICC put great store in this, but the man driving it inside Kenya, Sammy Obingo, the former KCA general manager, changed sides and is now firmly in the minister’s camp. Without this review, there can be no independent elections (there have been none since 1997) and that could give the ICC an excuse to get involved. There are also the ongoing investigations inside Kenya into the board’s management which might provide another opening.The only certainties are that this whole affair will drag on for some time yet, and the longer it does, the greater the harm for the game inside Kenya.

Bill Brown, who was the only remaining link to Australia’s pre-World War Two Test era, has died at the age of 95. Brown was the country’s oldest living Test cricketer and the third oldest in the world, and his death leaves only four surviving members of the 1948 Invincibles squad – Arthur Morris, Sam Loxton, Neil Harvey and Ron Hamence. His health had steadily declined in the past few months and he died peacefully at an RSL home in Brisbane’s northern suburbs on Sunday.Although Brown’s career was often overshadowed by his better-known contemporaries – he played with the likes of Don Bradman, Bill Ponsford, Bill Woodfull and Stan McCabe – he was without doubt a first-rate opening batsman. His 22 Tests brought 1592 runs at 46.82 and he was given the honour of captaining Australia for their first Test after the war.He formed a prolific combination with Jack Fingleton and the pair averaged 63.75 in their opening stands in ten Tests. They were at their most damaging on the 1935-36 tour of South Africa, when they compiled three century partnerships including 233 in Cape Town, which remains a record for the first wicket in Australia-South Africa Tests.Brown’s personal pinnacle came at Lord’s on the 1938 Ashes tour, when he carried his bat for an unbeaten 206 in the first televised Test, a match that was also memorable for Wally Hammond’s 240. He had already scored 133 at Trent Bridge and he had such a successful tour that he was second only to Bradman in Australia’s list of aggregates and averages, and his 512 Test runs at 73.14 earned him a Cricketer of the Year award for 1939.A cautious opener, Brown took seriously the job description, which he later summarised as: “Stay there until lunch-time on the first day. The pace you scored at didn’t matter a darn.” His adherence to the team request might not have pleased all the fans, who were often left waiting for the appearance of Bradman at No. 3, but it did satisfy his team-mates and Australia won 14 of the 22 Tests in which Brown played.His three tours to England were all memorable for different reasons – he made his Test debut in 1934 in Nottingham and scored 73, which was followed by his maiden century in the next match at Lord’s. The 1938 visit earned him the honour, and ten years later he returned and at the age of 35 played two Tests during the Invincibles trip.By then his best days were behind him but he went on to play one more Australian summer as the captain of Queensland, his home state. Although he was born in Toowoomba in 1912, Brown had learned his cricket in New South Wales and made his first-class debut there in 1932-33.That was the season of Bodyline and in the lead-up to the fourth Test Brown got a taste of his international future when he played against the tourists for a New South Wales side. Brown, who was only 20, enjoyed the occasion by making 69 when Bradman, Fingleton and Alan Kippax all failed. “The grass looks greener, it’s a lovely day, the sun’s shining, I wouldn’t be anywhere else in the world,” Brown said in later years in the book , recalling how he felt when he discovered England were resting Harold Larwood, Gubby Allen and Bill Voce.”Prior to that I’d been lying in bed at night worrying. I had a fairly heavy bat, you see, and I’d thought, God, I’ll never get this up in time for Larwood, he’ll hit me fair between the eyes and that’ll be the end of me.”During World War II, Brown was an air-force pilot and he spent time serving in Darwin and New Guinea, so his recollections of the conflict were markedly different to those of his team-mate Keith Miller, who flew over Germany. “I class mine as a gentleman’s war,” Brown said. “Never got dirty doing anything.”Brown went on to become a selector for Queensland and Australia during the 1950s, and in later years he was known as a gentleman of Australian cricket and as an entertaining public speaker. He presented Adam Gilchrist and Scott Muller with their baggy-green caps in 1999 and repeated the occasion six years later at the Gabba when Michael Hussey debuted. Brown inherited the mantle as Australia’s oldest living Test cricketer from Bradman and that title has now passed to Hamence, who at 92 is one of the four remaining Invicibles.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

Ashwell Prince halted a South African slide on the second day in Cape Town after Dwayne Bravo’s three wickets left them facing the prospect of a significant deficit. However, West Indies produced a resilient effort to stay in contention, as Bravo put in a marathon 24-over spell, but Prince and Boucher added an unbeaten 87 to put South Africa back on course for a useful lead.It’s been a long while since West Indies have found themselves ahead in a series and for the majority of the day they were without Fidel Edwards, who was forced off the field after pulling up with a hamstring strain five balls into his fifth over. To compound the problems Jerome Taylor also left the field later in the day, severely cutting into Chris Gayle’s resources, at a time when South Africa were ripe for the taking at 131 for 5 following Bravo’s successes which included Jacques Kallis and Hashim Amla in eight balls. Gayle’s hand was forced when Bravo eventually needed a break – his 24 overs only broken by lunch and tea – and he used the spin of Rawl Lewis and Marlon Samuels in tandem during the final session.This allowed South Africa to claw back ground with Prince and Boucher putting their head down for some hard graft. Prince’s fifty took 129 balls as he made a vital contribution following a lean period although boundaries were a rare commodity as the outfield remained slow and the pitch tough for scoring. One delivery from Powell burst through the surface to suggest batting last will be a tricky proposition.It reinforced the feeling that West Indies’ total wasn’t as disappointing as it appeared and would have been worth closer to 300 with a quicker outfield. Shivnarine Chanderpaul was left unbeaten on 65 off 223 balls when Andre Nel cleaned up the innings in the first three overs of the day.South Africa were given a stronger start than of late with Graeme Smith and Neil McKenzie adding 46 – the first double-figure opening stand of the home season – but none of the top four could build on their starts. Taylor helped take up the slack after Edwards’s departure with a lively spell either side of lunch which brought two wickets. McKenzie was drawn forward outside off stump and the delivery held its line to take the edge and Gayle completed a regulation catch. McKenzie hadn’t been overawed during his first Test innings in three-and-half years, but his demise for 23 set a trend.Smith was far from convincing, always giving the impression that he was close to being trapped lbw or edging to slip, and fell in predictable style as he pushed away from his body. The catch would probably have carried to first slip, but Ramdin dived across and made sure of the scalp.With Amla and Kallis adding 59 for the third wicket South Africa were making strong progress towards taking control and Kallis was beginning to look especially dangerous. The breakthrough came when he was caught on the back foot and edged through to Ramdin, soon followed by Amla who was trapped on the crease by a delivery that shaped back in.Refreshed by the tea interval, Bravo continued to make inroads when he found AB de Villiers’ outside edge and three wickets had fallen for 11 in 10 overs. Last week in Port Elizabeth, Bravo savoured his first Test victory and did more than his fair share to try and ensure the wait for number two isn’t as long. His nagging length and accuracy – he conceded less than two-an-over – were ideally suited to a two-paced surface. One more strike and West Indies would have been into the long tail with South Africa’s prospects of levelling the series fading. Now, though, this is anyone’s game and an intriguing battle lies ahead.

Search for Tom Parker on the internet and you get 17,100 results, most of which involve Elvis Presley’s manager. The Tom Parker that you will encounter at the Sydney Cricket Ground, though, is more focussed on a rock and roll of a different kind: hammering in the rocky surface before rolling it evenly.The 22-yards that Parker tends has been making a bit of news of late. It’s excited Brett Lee and prompted Brad Hogg to let out a grimace. Words like abrasive and rough are being replaced by lively and green. Both captains thought it was a “good wicket”, suggesting that there could be a bit in there for everyone. When a batsman and bowler call a pitch “good” you have something exciting brewing.”I tend to leave a bit more grass on the pitches these days than years gone by,” said Parker, who’s been the head groundsman here for close to a decade. “This pitch has probably got a bit more grass on it than we had in 2004. I feel it will probably have a bit more bounce in it. I’m just trying to keep a bit of pace in the pitch, trying to get a bit more carry to the keeper, and more consistent bounce throughout the match.”In years gone by, it has probably played a little slow and a little low. It’s going to seam around a bit on day one and on day two it should flatten out a bit more. By day four and five it starts to turn. To me that’s a cricket pitch. It should be changing every day.”India wouldn’t mind a surface that’s tending towards the bowlers. Look back at India’s overseas wins in the recent past – in Nottingham, Johannesburg and Kingston – and you have triumphs being engineered on lively surfaces. Rahul Dravid made an interesting point after the victory in Trent Bridge. “I’ve always felt we’ve done well when we’ve had the opportunity to take 20 wickets – we might lose the odd game but we also win games … Sometimes we’re put on the back foot early on good pitches, when we struggle to take 20 wickets.”While the batsmen thrive on flat pitches at home, they’ve not able to capitalise on hard surfaces abroad. Cape Town last year, when they collapsed for 169 in the second innings, was a classic instance of imploding on a benign track but there have been other instances of botching up chances in Lord’s and Melbourne as well. Given a choice, India might just prefer life on the pitch; not only will it enhance their bowlers chances but also offer their strokeplayers some pace to play with.Kumble, in his first press conference as captain, had made it clear that he wanted to “take the pitch and conditions out of the equation”. He reiterated the point here, adding that he “doesn’t want to worry too much about that”. The quick outfield will bring a smile. It means India’s batsmen can manage fours instead of having to rely on twos and threes. It may also mean a slightly better fielding effort, an area of their cricket which was exposed at the MCG.”It’s more to do with thinking and being a bit positive,” Kumble said. “If the mind is thinking positive, running between the wickets and fielding will be different.”

Worcestershire have signed Fidel Edwards, the West Indian fast bowler, as their overseas player for the second half of the 2008 season. Edwards is expected to join the club in time for their match against Northamptonshire on July 10, subject to clearance from the West Indies Cricket Board.Worcestershire had failed to sign Shane Bond, the former New Zealand fast bowler, after several weeks of negotiations but are confident in the international experience Edwards brings to the club.”Fidel is an International strike bowler with 30 Test matches under his belt who has the ability to bowl at 90 mph. His pace and aggression will suit Worcestershire for the second half of the season when the wickets have dried out,” Steve Rhodes, Worcestershire’ director of cricket, said. “He is exciting to watch and will add even more venom to our bowling attack.”Edwards, 26, said that playing county cricket had been an ambition for some time, and that he was excited at the opportunity to join the club. “I have heard it is hard work but I like it when I am being tested. It’s going to be a learning experience for me and I am willing to give whatever experience I have gained from playing test cricket. I can’t wait to be there.”Edwards has taken 75 Test and 44 one-day international wickets respectively.

Drawn – ScorecardMCC rested many of their leading players for a non first-class match and the XI was completed by Plum Warner, the manager, and Jack Hobbs, reporting on the tour for a newspaper. Chipperfield hit one five and eight fours in an excellent innings of 157. Hobbs, opening the innings, made 44 while the Nawab of Pataudi top scored with an unbeaten 94. On the last day R. Little and A. Baker, aged 16, put on 102 for the fourth Northern Districts wicket, Little making 117.

Subhash Dixit, a former India Under-15 captain, died after falling from the sixth floor of a building in Kanpur on June 9.Dixit, a resident of Kanpur, had left home for practice at the Green Park stadium; he went to a nearby shopping complex, from where he jumped. Dixit, 22, is believed to have been frustrated by his inability to make the Uttar Pradesh team for the Ranji Trophy.Dixit was captain of the Indian team during the Under-15 World Cup in 2000. He had also captained the Uttar Pradesh Under-15 and Under-19 teams. He was unemployed at the time of his death and came from a poor family. His father and one of his two sisters suffer from mental disability.Following his death, friends and fans of Dixit held protests in the city on Monday, demanding a compensation of Rs 10 lakh for Dixit’s family. According to PTI, the protestors blocked traffic by putting the deceased cricketer’s body on the road, and only relented when police and civil officials reached the spot. They handed over a memorandum to the Additional City magistrate.Placards criticizing the UPCA (Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association) were on display. The protestors alleged that none of the Association’s officials met Dixit’s family to express their sympathy.A group of people also attacked Shashikant Khandekar, a former selector for the Uttar Pradesh side, at his residence on Sunday evening.The UPCA announced a cash relief of Rs 1 lakh for Dixit’s family. In addition, the association said it would name the state Under-17 cricket tournament in his memory.

Ranadeb Bose has lashed out against national selector Ranjib Biswal for suggesting he was not quick enough. Biswal, the East Zone selector in the five-member committee, said recently that it was tough to “fight” for Bose because the team management believes he “is almost as slow as Dada (Sourav Ganguly).”Hurt by the statement, Bose said, “If he has said that, he’s lying. Nobody in his right mind can say I am as slow as Souray. I was between 132-134 kmph at the Challenger Trophy. It was live on TV and those who want can check. Souray bowls at around 120 and the difference in our pace is significant. Biswal saw me in the recent Ranji match against Orissa where the keeper was collecting it from near his chest. I must say he is a liar if he says I bowl at Sourav’s pace.”Biswal had also said that the competition for the fast bowler’s slot for Australia tour was between Pathan, Ishant, Munaf, VRV Singh and Pankaj Singh. “Of the five, only VRV and Pankaj are faster than me,” Bose said. “Given the pace Munaf has bowled at of late, that is. And I am not talking about performance, since the selector has talked just about pace.”I know I don’t have a chance to play for India anymore. Maybe because I don’t do a lot of things like sending messages to certain people on their birthdays, marriage anniversaries or don’t try to please them by doing things that go beyond performing in the cricket field. It’s disappointing, but I have to accept it.”

Luke Wright, the Sussex allrounder, has been forced to fly home from the England performance camp in Mohali with a foot injury. He will receive treatment back at Hove in conjunction with the ECB academy with a view to him rejoining the squad in the New Year.Steven Finn, the 18-year-old Middlesex fast bowler, will bolster the squad in India after impressing during the second half of last season. His performances during the Under-19 series against Pakistan caught the eye and he operates with a high action and generates decent pace.Wright is one of the bright prospects in English cricket after making a half-century on his ODI debut against India at The Oval in September. However, since then runs have been harder to come by and his five innings at the ICC World Twenty20 in South Africa brought 43 runs including two ducks. He was part of the one-day squad in Sri Lanka but didn’t play in any of the five matches.The performance squad will spend the first part of the camp in Mohali before moving to Chennai. Ashley Giles and Martyn Moxon are providing specialist coaching alongside Kevin Shine while David Parsons, the interim academy director, will replace Giles in December.

At the beginning of the series against Australia, India’s middle-order batsman Robin Uthappa had said his team would meet “fire with fire”. On the eve of the fourth ODI in Chandigarh with India trailing 0-2, Uthappa admitted that the “intensity levels had dropped” after the World Twenty20 because “they had little time to plan for a tough series”.Keeping the intensity levels high and playing hard cricket is what Ricky Ponting had said aggression was all about. He felt Australia’s dominance was a result of them training and preparing harder than most teams and their confident on-field attitude was a result of their meticulous planning. In Kochi, Australia had Yuvraj Singh caught on the drive by Matthew Hayden at short cover for 10. In Hyderabad, however, Yuvraj scored a scintillating 121 off 115 balls and Ponting said a team meeting had been held to form a plan of attack against him.”We’ve looked at a few different lines and lengths that we should be bowling to him and some areas that we let him off in the last game. We’ll adjust things a little bit and test him in different areas and see what the outcome is.”Ponting had also said the inclusion of India’s big three – Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid – in the ODI squad after they opted out of the Twenty20 tournament could work to Australia’s advantage because they knew their strengths and weaknesses. That statement was backed up by what followed. Ganguly hasn’t had a hit yet but Tendulkar and Dravid have scored only 90 runs between them in five innings.”If you have a look at a couple of their [Tendulkar and Dravid’s] dismissals, it would have been the way that we wanted to get them out, the way we’ve got them out a few times in the past. We know that they are quality players and on any given day they can be match-winners for India.”Sachin was just working his way into his innings the last game, setting himself up for a big one, so we have to make sure we don’t let him off the hook early on. If Ganguly plays tomorrow, we’ve got a pretty good idea of where we should be bowling to him and, so far, we’ve got Dravid pretty well looked after. But you can’t expect that to keep happening, these guys are going to come good and play well at some stage and we’re prepared for that if they do.”Australia have backed up all their talk with quality performances in the three games so far. It doesn’t matter whether the Indians get in the Australians’ faces on Monday, what matters is if they’ll be able to get on the scoreboard.